Isolation and molecular identification of yeast strains from <i>“Rabilé”</i> a starter of local fermented drink

Abstract

“Rabilé” is dried yeast harvested from Sorghum beer, used as a traditional starter culture but more especially as ingredient in sauce and food cooking in Burkina Faso. The present study aimed to isolate and identify indigenous yeast flora of “Rabilé”. Standard microbiological process was carried out to value and isolate yeast in different samples of “Rabilé” coming from four localities of Burkina Faso. Phenotypical method and molecular method (PCR and RFLP) were used for yeast  strains characterization and identification. The results showed that yeast counts ranged from 9.49 to 10.35 log cfu/g of “Rabilé”. A total of twenty yeast strains were isolated. Based on phenotypical characters three genera were detected: Candida (40%), Saccharomyces (35%) and Rhodotorula (25%). Molecular identification revealed two specific strains among yeasts isolated as S. cerevisiae with a frequency of 35% and R. mucilaginosa with a frequency of 25%. This data highlights the diversity of indigenous yeast flora of “Rabilé”.

Key words: Rabilé, yeast, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), traditional starter culture.